Profile
Fay Kahane MSc MCIEEM
PhD student
Environment and Sustainability Institute
Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9FE, UK
Overview
As an ecologist and social scientist, I’m interested in the application of cutting-edge science to real-world issues as identified by practitioners. With over 15 years’ experience as a professional ecologist in the public, private and charity sectors, I am returning to academia having been awarded a PhD studentship from the ESRC, commencing with an MRes in Sustainable Futures. I seek to understand and communicate how we can utilise our environment sustainably for the benefit of people and nature, to undertake research that is driven by need in the community, and to inform practice and policy.
This cross-council interdisciplinary PhD project will explore sustainability in beekeeping. There is increasing interest in the rewilding of honeybees in order to facilitate survival of this economically and environmentally critical pollinator outside of managed hives. The social and economic impacts of rewilding, along with ecological impacts upon both honeybees and wild pollinators, remain unknown.
I am working with Dr Karen Scott (Politics), Prof Juliet Osborne (Pollination Ecologist), Prof Martin Parker (Organisation Studies) and Prof Stefano Pascucci (Circular Economy). Our research will engage beekeepers and other stakeholders collaboratively to investigate the ecological impacts of changing beekeeping practices using field data, the BEEHAVE model and disease analysis. Mixed methods including Q-methodology and Social Network Analysis will generate quantitative and qualitative data to investigate how perspectives and values change over the course of the research, and how this may influence practice. Our aims are to enhance communication among the beekeeping community, scientists and policymakers, and facilitate evidence-led action for pollinators (managed and wild).
Qualifications
MSc Ethnobotany (with Distinction). University of Kent at Canterbury, 2003.
BSc Biological Sciences (1st Class Hons). University of Birmingham, 2002.
Career
Research Associate, ESI, University of Exeter (April 2019 – July 2020)
Consultant Ecologist, Westcountry Rivers Trust (2017 - 2019)
Freelance Consultant Ecologist, Cornwall (2011 - 2017)
Deputy Conservation Manager, Cornwall Wildlife Trust (2010 - 2011)
Regional Species Officer and Monitoring Ecologist, Natural Resources Wales (2008 - 2010)
Ecologist (Project Manager), Cornwall Environmental Consultants (2005 - 2008)